Safety-guard for presses.



C. M. BRANDT.

lSAFETY GUARD FOR PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED Dec. I. I9I5.

I 1,234,723.. v.Patented July 31, 1917.

I III CHARLES, M. BnAfNn'r, or rnILADnLrHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETYLG-UARD FOR PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent. A Patentedy July 31, 1917*;

Application filed December 1, 19.15- Serial No. 64,500.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES M. BRANDT, a citizen ofl the United States,residing at .Philadelphia in the county of Philadelphia and State ofVPennsylvania, have invented new andnsefulV Improvements inVSafety-Guards for Presses, of which the following isr a speciication.y,Y

The invention relates to presses and has for an object to provide aguard for preventing injury to the operator of the press. A stillfurther object` of the invention is the provision of a device,whichaside from racting asa guard or safety 'apparatusfOr the operator of aprinting press also prevents the stacked printed matter on the tablefrom falling into the press in cases where the. jarring of the tablecauses the stacked matter tok fall, or when the printed matterslips outof the hand `of the operatorwhile being removedv from the platen.

The invention is particularly adapted to,

printing presses and the like and primarily e to the bedand platen,typev of press, to the end that the hand of the operator will beprevented from becoming wedged or mashed between the chase` and platen,upon movement of the latter into closed or printing position. v

It is well known that a large number of injuries occur annually, due tothe failure of the operator ofv a press such` as men-Y tioned, to removehis or her hand from the platen after placing theblank matter to beprinted, thereon, and in which instance the hand, projecting acrossythe. face ofV the platen, is wedged and mashed between the platen andchase as the lattei movestoward the chase or vice versa. InjuriesH ofthis character occur mostly on printing` presses havingy a slow openingand quick closing movement or when both the chase and platen are movedtoward eachv other.

vW'ith the avoidance of these injuries in view, I provide a simple,inexpensive guard, operating in conjunction with the press to remove thehand of the operator :from the platen of the pressand out of the way of'the danger zone mentioned, when the platen is moving toward` printingposition.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings, constituting .a part of this specification, inwhich similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts inallthe views, and in whichz Figure l is a fragmentary side elevation ofa press, showing my device applied thereto and in guarding position, s A

n Fig.l 2 is another fragmentary side elevation showing the press withthe device in inoperative or normal position, the platen beingin openposition relative to the; bed', .of the press,

Fig. 8 isa and cam,

Fig,A 4c isa perspective view of the guard; proper, with the curtainYbroken. away.`

lgig. 5 is a perspective view of the guide,y an

Fig. 6` is a vertical transverse' section perspective lview ofthebracket taken through one of the extensions ofthe U-shaped element,showing the appl-icaton of a roller thereto.` v

Referring more lparticularly to the views I disclose a printingpressrlO, of; thebed and platen type, the essential parts as shownlbeing the frame 11i, Swinging platen 12;, taf ble 13 and bed 14 withtheusual chase 15 carried in the bed.

Secured to the back of the platen 12 on` each' side is a guidek bracket16preferably consisting of spaced plates 17 andr guides 18,

the guides. being fitted snuglyV against thev back of the platen as willbe'clearly seen. Set screws 2O passing through one ofthe plates 17engage a face of a flange 2 1'onv the platen, with the othery plate 17abut-ting against the underside ofA the flange, thusYY rigidly holdingthe guideV bracket against movement.v

A substantially inverted vLlv shaped elei ment 22, constitutes the guardproper and as shown 1s preferably formed -of arsingle piece ofV metal,ybent in the shape mentioned, and formed with laterall extensions 23having rollers 24 journaled thereon. The element 22 is arranged to slidein thek guides 18, being thus` arranged and-movably supported in therear of the platen.

Secured to each side of ,the frame 11 of the press is a bracket 25,preferably formed to provide a forwardlyprojecting cam 26 and arearwardly projecting arm 27. terminating in a tubular bearing 28.Referring carel fully tothe views it will be extensions 23 of theelement 22 pass through the'irregular openings 29. of the cams thus seenthat the causing the rollers 24 to cooperate with the cams.` An apron 30has a loop 31 at each end with a rod 32 passing through one loop withits ends seated in the bearings 28 of the brackets 25, the straightportion 33 of the element 22 being passed through the other loop of theapron.

Attentioncis particularly directed to the cams 26 of the brackets, andreferring to Fig. 2 it will be seen thatl when the platen is in openposition to receive matter to be printed, the straight portion 33 of theelement 22 will lie substantially flush with the upper edge of theplaten. Now as the platen swings forwardly and downwardly to bring thematter to be printed, toward the form,

V' the hand of the operator, used to place the matter on the platenwould become wedged between the platen and the form if not withdrawn.Therefore as the platen moves into the position last mentioned it willbe seen that at a certain moment, and due to the novel construction ofthe cams, the element 22 will be raised on the platen so that itsstraight portion, coming up beyondy the edge of the platen, will bearagainst the hand of Y the operator and force it from the dangerousposition, between the platen and form. With this construction it willtherefore be seen that each time the platen moves into position forprinting the movement of the element 22 will serve as a warning to theoperator and the element striking the hand of the operator will throw itor the fingers out from between the platen and form. As the platenreturns to open position the element har-v ing the extensions 23 androllers 24 loose in the openings'of the cams, will gravitate in theguides, and also, due to the formation of the cams, be pulled intonormal position, the straight portion 33 being now again substantiallyflush with the edge of the platen.

It will also be noted that the apron 30 pulled taut ywhen the guardelement is raised prevents' the operators hands from being advanced intothe vmachine beneath or Vin back of the platen, and where they would becrushed upon the return of the platen to a normal position.

Frequently a card, envelop or some other printed matter, falls into theworking mechanism of a press and the operator in a vain attempt to catchthe falling card has his or her hand crushed in the press. lith theaddition of the apron, however', the usual open-V Vings 1n the framev ofthe press, in front of the table, are covered and thus the operatorcannot insert the hands. Aside from this,

' however, the apron is of vast importance, in

that it prevents printed matter that slips from the operators hand, fromfalling into the mechanism of the press, and furthermore when stackedprinted matterV in the press falls over, as is ofttimes the case, duetothe jarring of the table, the apron here also,

will prevent the falling cards, venvelops orr readily attach the simplestructure to thev press with lthe aid of ya simple form of wrench.Furthermore, Vin the operation of thedevice, the construction of thecams and theuse of the same with the remaining structure, accomplish aresult,'that ordinarily vis notV attained,namely a quick and positiveraising of the guard element into accident preventing position justbefore the otherwise criticalmoment when the hand orjngers of theoperator wouldbe endangered. By having this action of the guard elementpositive and abrupt, the operator isboth warned and operated upon by theelement striking the hand. It should be carefully noted thatv themovement of the guard element into safety position pulls the apron tautso that the apron as shown in Fig. 2 being also substantiallysimultaneous.

I-laving described my invention, I claim 5- Y 1. In a printing pressguard, the combina-v tion with a form and a platen movable toward andaway from said form, of a guard carried by ysaid platen and movableupwardly from the platen in the movementfof the latter toward the formand embodying a frame having lateral extensions thereon,

and brackets rigidly attached to the frame of the printing press andembodying arms formed with cam-shaped openings to receive said lateralextensions, whereby in the movement of the platen toward the form saidilo lateral extensions engage in said openings Y and slide said frameupwardly. Y

f ,2. In a printing press guard, the combination with a' form and aplaten movable toward and away from said form,.of a guard carried bysaid platen and movable upwardly from the platen in the movement of Ythe latter toward the form and embodying a frame having iateralextensions thereon, brackets rigidly attached to the frame loftheprinting press and embodying'arms formed with cam-shapedV openings toreceive saidV lateral extensions, whereby in the movement of the platentoward the form said lateral extensions engage in said openings andslide said frame upwardly, arms projecting rearwardly from saidbrackets, respectively,and4

a flexible sheet having one edge connectedfto the rear edges of saidarms and the otheredge connected to said guard and adapted to be drawntaut in the movement of the platen toward the form.

3. In a printing press guard, the combination with a form and a platenmovable toward and away from said form, of a guard carried by saidplaten and movable upwardly from the platen in the movement of thelatter toward the form and embodying an inverted U-shaped frame, guidetubes detachably connected to the platen and encircling the legs of thesaid frame, the lower ends of the legs of said frame being formedV withlateral extensions, and brackets detachably connected to the frame ofthe printing press and provided with arms having camshaped openingstherein to receive said ex-k Copies of this patent may be obtained forve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C.

